Josh looked at Aaron and said, "Remember our Super Bowl party a couple years ago, when Noah met Cody?"
"Elle's ex, Cody? Noah met him?" asked a surprised Lee. "I never heard that one."
Aaron laughed, "Yeah, I thought for sure Noah was going to lose it and if he could get through that without a fight, he must for sure be over his fighting deal."
Noah's POV
Aaron is a huge football fan and he and Josh throw a big Super Bowl party every year. The party after our wedding was huge, since the Chicago Bears were playing in the big game. Being a Chicago native, Aaron was a die-hard Bears fan. The whole city seemed to be excited for this game and even though I had never been a big fan of the Bears, it was fun to be around all that energy leading up to the big game. Aaron and I had been watching football together since I moved to Chicago, once we realized we both loved the game. Our mutual passion for sports is probably the main reason we've become such good friends.
Before the game started, Elle was getting us drinks, while I was sitting with Josh and Darren, talking about our predictions for the game. Darren got up to find Lexi, who was talking to some friends from work. On her way back to where we were sitting, Elle stopped to talk to Aaron and some other guy I didn't know.
"Woah, that's kinda awkward, right?" Josh asked me, nodding his head towards Elle, Aaron, and the guy I didn't know.
"What do you mean?" I was confused about what he was talking about.
"Do you know who she's talking to?" Josh asked me, seeing my confusion.
"Is it someone from work? There are so many people they work with, I don't know most of them." I'm getting anxious for the game to start, I'm not too worried about who Elle is talking to, it's not like I was going to get jealous of her talking to some guy with me right across the room.
"That's not someone from work, that's Cody."
"Cody?" I've only heard of one person named Cody that Elle knows, but I can't believe he would be here at this party.
Josh gave me a little bit of a concerned look. "You know, Elle's ex."
Yeah, that's the one. "What? I had no idea that was him, I've never seen him before. What's he even doing here, doesn't he live in New York?" Suddenly I forgot about the game and my focus was drawn to Elle. I watched her smile at something Cody said and play with her hair before moving it behind her ear. It looked like her normal friendly body language, doesn't look like she's talking to someone she used to date. Or someone she used to sleep with. Okay, let's get that thought out of my head, that is not something I need to be thinking about right now. Or ever, for that matter.
"Aaron was friends with Cody in college and introduced him to Elle. They still follow each other on social, Aaron has shown me some of the stuff he posts from New York. I know Aaron posted about the party and I think Cody just happened to be in town this weekend."
"Mmm." I need some time to process this. I'm not concerned Elle is talking to her ex-boyfriend, I'm just trying to figure out what I'm feeling about seeing her with him.
"I haven't met him before, but I've been through a lot of Aaron's pictures from college and there are some with Cody and Elle." Elle has shared a lot of her pictures with me also, once we started talking about our time apart, but there were no pictures of this guy. Cody has really short blond hair and is quite a bit shorter than me, although most people are. He doesn't look like Elle's type at all. Of course, I think of myself as Elle's type, so I guess it's just that he doesn't look like me.
I continued to watch Elle laughing with Cody and Aaron, then Aaron was interrupted by one of his buddies from work who must have needed his help with something. "Hey, Aaron, I can take care of that." I heard Josh call out to Aaron and I vaguely noticed him making motions in my direction. Aaron looked me a little sheepishly as he walked over towards me.
Aaron smirked at me, though, once he sat down next to me. "If looks could kill, someone would be dead over there. I take it Josh filled you in on who Elle is talking to."
"What the hell, dude? You didn't think I might want to know this guy was gonna be here?" I'm not happy with Aaron right now. He didn't think to mention that Elle's ex would be at this party?
"I would have given you a heads up when he told me he was going to be in town, but it didn't sound like he was going to be able to make it today, so I didn't think it would matter." Now Aaron looked like he felt bad, which was an unusual look for him.
"Hmm." I'm not even sure what to say at this point.
"I've heard about your fights back in the day, you're not going to start something with him, are you?" I see Aaron look down and only then realize my fists are clenched, as if I'm preparing for a fight.
"No, of course not." I would love to, though. Walk up to him and punch him. It's been a long time since I've felt that way. I should probably get over that feeling before I meet him. I know it's ridiculous to think like this, from what I've heard, he treated Elle right and they only broke up because he moved. But, that doesn't change the fact that this guy was in Elle's life when I wasn't and I hate him for it. I think back to what it felt like to connect my fist with someone's jaw and imagine what Cody would look like when I hit him. Then, I imagine Elle's face looking at me after hitting him and my urge to fight quickly goes away.
"How are you doing there, buddy? Alright?" Aaron is looking more concerned the longer he is sitting here by me.
I made myself relax my hands. I realize then that my jaw is clenched also. I guess I automatically went to full fight mode there. I take a couple deep breaths to try to relax myself a little. "I'm not sure. Elle never dated anyone before me. I knew she dated someone else after me, but I have tried to avoid thinking about it. It feels really strange, seeing her with him." Although I never really dated before Elle either, I know Elle heard of me kissing a lot of girls in high school and even witnessed it herself at parties. Once we got together, she still had to see those girls around school, knowing what I had done with them. I wish I could go back in time and change things because I hate the thought that she ever felt the same way I'm feeling now. I'm jealous. I mean, I know that's stupid, I'm the one who got the girl, but that's how I feel right now.
"They may have dated, but it's obvious to me now that it was nothing compared to the relationship you two have." The concerned look on Aaron's face is finally gone.
I continued trying to figure out everything going on in my head. "There was a guy, once, my first year of Harvard when Elle and I were long distance and having some issues. He went to school with her and I saw her kiss him. Seeing that was the worst feeling I had ever had at the time. I found out soon after that they were friends and the kiss was a mistake, she didn't have feelings for him. I didn't have anything to worry about, but I still felt horrible at the time. This guy here, though, was someone she was in a relationship with. It seems like a lot bigger deal, even though it happened so long ago."
"Do you want me to introduce you? They're just catching up, you know Elle wouldn't mind if you interrupted. You do know you don't have anything to worry about, right?"
"I know." I broke my gaze from Elle for a second, looking at who Aaron was practically laughing at me at this point, now that he knew I had calmed down. "I know. Give me a minute."
"Go on over there and meet him, it'll be good for you."
I didn't believe that, but I walked over anyway. I tried to give myself a pep talk. Elle loves me, I'm the one going home with her tonight, not this jerk.
"Oh, there he is." Elle smiled at me as I wrapped my arm around her shoulders. "Cody, this is my husband, Noah Flynn. Noah, this is Cody Arnold."
"Hi." I reached out and shook his hand. I looked down at Elle and kept my focus on her. See, this isn't so bad, not weird at all.
"Nice to meet you. Flynn, wasn't that your friend Lee's last name and where we went for Thanksgiving?" Cody smiled at me and looked over at Elle. Hmm, sounds like he's never heard of me before?
Elle reached out to grab my hand and wove her fingers through mine as she answered him. "Yes, Noah is Lee's brother." That's not quite the way I'm used to being introduced.
"Ah, I see. Lee's a good guy, I always liked him. Well, congratulations to the both of you. I should probably let you go, Elle, the game will be starting soon. It was really good to see you again, Elle, and nice to meet you, Noah."
"Good to see you too, Cody, take care!" Elle smiled and waved as he walked away.
As soon as Cody was in the next room, Elle looked up at me concerned. "Hey, so that was unexpected. Aaron told you who he was before you came over, right? I was surprised you came. I didn't think you would want to meet him."
"I didn't want to, but Aaron talked me into it. He told me it would be good for me." I rolled my eyes. Aaron was always telling me what was good for me and even though it always annoyed me, for some reason I usually listened to him. "He didn't know who I was, did you not ever talk about me?" I'm not sure why I expected that she would have talked to him about me, her ex-boyfriend. Especially when I know I avoided all talk of Elle while we were broken up.
"I felt like I was moving on from you when I started dating Cody, but deep down I think I knew that I was still in love with you. It didn't seem fair to talk to him about someone I was still in love with."
It always frustrated me when this came up, how we both still loved each other during that miserable time we spent apart. "I can't believe we were stupid enough to waste all that time away from each other. I love you, Shell." We walked back towards the tv and I sat down on the couch and pulled her down on my lap, kissing her on the forehead.
"I love you too, Noah."
"I totally could have taken him, though, if I wanted to." As much as I felt like punching him, I'm glad I didn't, Elle would have been so mad at me for it. And really, it would have been stupid. He had Elle in his life for such a short period of time and Elle and I would be together for the rest of our lives.
Elle rolled her eyes, but still giggled, so at least I knew she wasn't upset with me. "I know you could have, babe. Now, let's watch some football!"
I kept Elle close throughout the game, my arm around her, holding her hand. Aaron must have noticed, soon after halftime, he sent me a text.
Aaron – Cody had to take off early. Elle should be safe from him now, you can loosen your grip.
Noah – Nah, I'm never letting go of her.
Aaron – You are so cheesy. You know that, right?
Noah – Whatever. You should stop worrying about me and start worrying about how your team is going to pull off a win tonight.
I smirk to myself as I kiss Elle on her cheek and pull my focus back to the game. As weird as it was to see Elle with her ex today, it does make me think about how lucky I am to be here married to Elle, the love of my life.